….Americans are very tired, and exhaustion with the ongoing administrative horror show has led to two popular fantasies. The first is that Mr. Trump will magically change and become presidential, as he was briefly proclaimed to be after his address to Congress and after he bombed Syria, before a new disaster shook pundits from their delusions. The second is that the so-called deep state will oust him through the Russian interference investigation, which the administration is actively trying to impede. The first scenario is an illusion; the second – with so many administrative officials implicated – is no guarantee.

These fantasies spring from the same wishful thinking and denial that got Mr. Trump elected. For over a year, citizens refused to accept that the unthinkable was not only thinkable, but probable. His win was a lesson in the dangers of complacency. The 100 days have shown Mr. Trump’s failures to be not a natural result of incompetence, but of vigilance that citizens and officials must continue to apply if they want to keep their republic.

A new translation of Dante’s The Inferno bears the lines: “Forget your hopes. They were what brought you here.” This is good advice for those living in Mr. Trump’s special hell. The era of hope and change is over. The era of resistance and resolve is now.